Leonie
A feminine name of Greek origin meaning "lion-like" or "lioness".
Name Census estimates that about 1,246 living Americans carry the first name Leonie. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Leonie today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Leonie births was 2024 (74 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Leonie. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Leonie with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.2K
~ 1 in 275,084 Americans
Peak year
2024
74 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,443
Tracked since 1880
Census
Leonie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,401 people with the first name Leonie, which placed it at #6,629 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#6,629
National first-name rank
People counted
2.4K
2,401 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
43.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Leonie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Leonie is Black at 43.2%. The next largest groups are White (38.5%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (6.2%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Leonie described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Leonie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American43.2% · 1,037
- White38.5% · 925
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.2% · 148
- Two or more races6.0% · 145
- Hispanic or Latino5.8% · 139
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 7
Popularity
Leonie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Leonie from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 436 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Leonie remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Leonie by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Leonie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Leonies live
The SSA's state-level files cover 9 states and territories. California, New York, Louisiana recorded the most babies named Leonie, while Washington, Colorado, Ohio recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 39 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Leonie
The name Leonie is a feminine given name of French origin. It is derived from the Greek name Leontios, meaning "lion". The name can be traced back to ancient Greece, where it was used as a masculine name.
In ancient Greek mythology, the lion was a symbol of strength, courage, and royalty. The name Leontios was often given to sons who were expected to grow up to be brave warriors or leaders. Over time, the name evolved into the French feminine form Leonie.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Leonie dates back to the 12th century. In 1158, a woman named Leonie de Montfort was mentioned in a French historical record. She was the daughter of Simon III de Montfort, a prominent French nobleman.
In the 19th century, the name Leonie gained popularity in France and other European countries. One notable bearer of the name was Leonie Aviat (1844-1914), a French Catholic nun who founded the Oblate Sisters of St. Francis de Sales. She was beatified by the Catholic Church in 1992.
Another famous Leonie was Leonie Gilmour (1902-1988), an American educator and author. She was a pioneer in the field of early childhood education and wrote several books on the subject, including "The Montessori System of Education" (1914).
In the realm of literature, the name Leonie appears in the works of French novelist Marcel Proust. In his novel "In Search of Lost Time", one of the central characters is named Leonie Deleuville, the aunt of the narrator.
Other notable figures named Leonie include Leonie Rysanek (1926-1998), an Austrian operatic soprano who performed at major opera houses around the world, and Leonie Ossowski (1925-2019), a German writer and journalist who was known for her work on human rights and social justice issues.
The name Leonie has maintained a presence throughout history, with its roots in ancient Greek culture and its enduring popularity in France and other parts of Europe. While it may not be as common today as some other names, Leonie continues to be a name that carries a sense of strength and nobility.
People
Leonie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Leonie as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with L
Other first names starting with L with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Leonie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Leonie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,246 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Leonie going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 275,084 US residents.
Is Leonie a common name?
We classify Leonie as "Rare". It ranks above 91.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,150 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Leonie most popular?
The single biggest year for Leonie was 2024, when 74 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Leonie is about 23 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Leonie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,401 people with the name Leonie, or 0.79 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,629 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Leonie in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Leonie?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Leonie leans strongly female. 2,361 people counted with this name were female (98.6%), compared with 34 male bearers (1.4%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Leonie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Leonie is Black at 43.2%. The next largest groups are White (38.5%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (6.2%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Leonie most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Leonie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 43.2% (1,037 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Leonie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Leonie a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Leonie in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Leonie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Leonie in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Leonie can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many Americans are named Leonie?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.